Hindus, who will visit churches to take part in Christmas celebrations will be ‘beaten up, declared a leader of the right-wing group Bajrang Dal, saying that he was outraged by the alleged shut down of the Vivekananda Centre in Meghalaya’s Shillong.
Addressing an event on December 5, at Silchar, Assam Guwahati district general secretary of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (Bajrang Dal’s parent body), Mithu Nath warned the Hindus to face the consequences if they celebrate the Christian function. He said the Centre in Shillong, which was part of the Ramakrishna Mission.
‘Hindus (who visit churches) will be beaten because I revile those Hindus who would go and have fun at a Christian function after they shut down our places of worship. No Hindu will go to church this Christmas. We will make sure of it,’ Mithu Nath was quoted by NDTV.
In a video that went viral on social media platforms, Nath can be heard saying that they will not sit back if anyone is seen celebrating the festival no matter what the media outlets call them.
‘If we assault, I know the headlines in newspapers the next day – ‘Gunda Dal’ has vandalised Oriental school, but that is not our priority. We will not allow Hindus in programmes during Christmas when they are locking gates of temples in Shillong,’ he said.
Addressing a crowd of around 70 people, Nath, dressed in saffron can be seen chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Nath alleged that the Khasi Student Union (KSU) had shut down a temple. However, the allegation has been denied by a top official of the Meghalaya government. The official said that it was the Cultural Centre, where students are taught advanced computer courses, whose gates had been closed, not locked, and that no temple of the Ramakrishna Mission had been shut.
Of the total Cachar’s population, only a small group of people traditionally celebrate Christmas.
According to the report, Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Assam has called themselves ‘protectors of the Hindu way of living’ and enjoyed their influence in Cachar district’s Barak Valley region for many years.
In his inflammatory speech, Nath also hit out at the ‘love jihad’ issue, stating the wing would go beyond limits to protect their mothers and daughters. It is to be noted that the Centre does not recognise the term ‘Love Jihad’, but various BJP-led states have announced bringing stringent laws for dealing with cases of interfaith marriages.
At the end of his address, Nath advised those in the audience to stay ‘within the ambit of the law’ while protecting their religion, and not take matters into their hands.
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